In many applications, fluids or colloidal suspensions or the like are transported under high pressure through pipes. Depending on the application, the pipe may present a tortuous flow path. Often times, a section of piping that presents a tortuous path is made of several short lengths of pipe that are connected by couplings. The couplings may introduce angles of up to ninety degrees or more.
An example of such an application is a cement pump truck. In a cement pump truck, a cement pump pressurizes cement to around 1200 pounds per square inch (“psi”). Cement is pumped at this high pressure out an outlet of the cement pump at the rear of the cement pump truck. Typically, the cement flows through a steel pipe leading from the cement pump outlet, goes through a first coupling with a ninety degree bend, flows through a “transition area” steel pipe, goes through a second coupling with a ninety degree bend, and then flows into a cement delivery tube from which the cement is brought to its desired destination for application.
Over time, the flow of the high pressure cement through the tortuous path between the cement pump outlet and the cement delivery tube may wear down walls of the steel pipe or the couplings. As a result, the steel pipe could experience a breach of integrity or possibly catastrophic failure, or the coupling could separate from the steel pipe. In any event, a situation could exist where cement at around 1200 psi is sprayed from the cement pump. This can present a potentially dangerous situation to an operator or other personnel in the vicinity of the cement pump truck.
It is known to non-destructively evaluate pipes to determine if any cracks have formed in the pipe walls. To this end, non-destructive evaluation (“NDE”) may be performed on the pipe between the cement pump outlet and the cement delivery tube. Suitable examples of NDE include use of x-ray, radiography, and fluoroscope. However, NDE presents several drawbacks. For example, NDE is expensive and takes the cement truck out of revenue service during NDE testing. Further, it is difficult to determine where the NDE should be performed. Finally, NDE cannot be performed on the couplings. As a result, NDE may not adequately predict an impending breach of integrity in the pipe or couplings between the cement pump outlet and the cement delivery tube.
Because of difficulty predicting impending breach of integrity in the pipe or couplings between the cement pump outlet and the cement delivery tube, in the event of a breach of integrity it would be desirable to protect operators and other personnel in the vicinity by containing any high-pressure cement issuing forth from such a break in the pipe or couplings. However, there is an unmet need in the art for a containment device for an area between the cement pump outlet and the cement delivery tube of a cement pump truck.